Dent corn, also known as grain corn, is a type of

field corn Field corn is a North American term for maize (''Zea mays'') grown for livestock fodder (silage and meal), ethanol, cereal, and processed food products. The principal field corn varieties are dent corn, flint corn, flour corn (also known as sof ...

with a high soft

starch Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diet ...

content. It received its name because of the small indentation, or "dent", at the crown of each kernel on a ripe ear of corn. Reid's Yellow Dent is a variety developed by central Illinois farmer James L. Reid. Reid and his father, Robert Reid, moved from Brown County, Ohio, to Tazewell County, Illinois, in 1846 bringing with them a red corn variety known as "Johnny Hopkins", and crossed it with varieties of

flint corn Flint corn (''Zea mays'' var. ''indurata''; also known as Indian corn or sometimes calico corn) is a variant of maize, the same species as common corn. Because each kernel has a hard outer layer to protect the soft endosperm, it is likened to bein ...

and

flour corn Flour corn (''Zea mays'' var. ''amylacea'') is a variety of corn with a soft starchy endosperm and a thin pericarp. It is primarily used to make corn flour. This type, frequently found in Aztec and Inca graves, is widely grown in the drier pa ...

. Most of today's hybrid corn varieties and cultivars are derived from it. This variety won a prize at the 1893 World's Fair. Most of the corn grown in the United States today is yellow dent corn or a closely related variety derived from it. Dent corn is the variety used in food manufacturing as the base ingredient for cornmeal flour (used in the baking of

cornbread Cornbread is a quick bread made with cornmeal, associated with the cuisine of the Southern United States, with origins in Native American cuisine. It is an example of batter bread. Dumplings and pancakes made with finely ground cornmeal are st ...

), corn chips, tortillas, and taco shells. It is also used to make

corn syrup Corn syrup is a food syrup that is made from the starch of corn/maize and contains varying amounts of sugars: glucose, maltose and higher oligosaccharides, depending on the grade. Corn syrup is used in foods to soften Mouthfeel, texture, add vol ...

. Starch derived from this high-starch content variety is turned into

plastics Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic materials composed primarily of polymers. Their defining characteristic, plasticity, allows them to be molded, extruded, or pressed into a diverse range of solid forms. This adaptab ...

, as well as

fructose Fructose (), or fruit sugar, is a Ketose, ketonic monosaccharide, simple sugar found in many plants, where it is often bonded to glucose to form the disaccharide sucrose. It is one of the three dietary monosaccharides, along with glucose and gal ...

which is used as a sweetener ( high-fructose corn syrup) in many processed foods and soft drinks. It is also the #1 ingredient (51+%) in Kentucky

bourbon whiskey Bourbon whiskey (; also simply bourbon) is a Aging (food), barrel-aged American whiskey made primarily from corn (maize). The name derives from the Kingdom of France, French House of Bourbon, although the precise source of inspiration is uncerta ...

mash bills and is used to make

ethanol Ethanol (also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol, with its formula also written as , or EtOH, where Et is the ps ...

for industrial use and motor fuel. The six major types of corn are dent corn,

, pod corn,

popcorn Popcorn (also called popped corn, popcorns, or pop-corn) is a variety of corn kernel which expands and puffs up when heated. The term also refers to the snack food produced by the expansion. It is one of the oldest snacks, with evidence of p ...

, and

sweet corn Sweet corn (''Zea mays'' convar. ''saccharata'' var. ''rugosa''), also called sweetcorn, sugar corn and pole corn, is a variety of maize grown for human consumption with a high sugar content. Sweet corn is the result of a naturally occurring rec ...

Taxonomy

* ''Zea mays'' var. ''indentata'', synonym ''Zea indentata'' Sturtev., was identified and published by American agronomist and botanist Edward Lewis Sturtevant (1842–1898). It is categorized as a species within the family

Poaceae Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivate ...

, subfamily

Panicoideae Panicoideae is the second-largest subfamily of the grasses with over 3,500 species, mainly distributed in warm temperate and tropical regions. It comprises some important agricultural crops, including sugarcane, maize (or corn), sorghum, and s ...

, and tribe

Andropogoneae The Andropogoneae, sometimes called the sorghum tribe, are a large tribe of grasses (family Poaceae) with roughly 1,200 species in 90 genera, mainly distributed in tropical and subtropical areas. They include such important crops as maize (corn), ...

—a tribe of grasses that use the NADP–malic enzyme subtype of C₄ photosynthesis in

carbon fixation Biological carbon fixation, or сarbon assimilation, is the Biological process, process by which living organisms convert Total inorganic carbon, inorganic carbon (particularly carbon dioxide, ) to Organic compound, organic compounds. These o ...

Description

Dent corn (''Zea mays'' var. ''indentata'') is a fast-growing, vertically erect, short-lived

annual plant An annual plant is a plant that completes its life cycle, from germination to the production of seeds, within one growing season, and then dies. Globally, 6% of all plant species and 15% of herbaceous plants (excluding trees and shrubs) are ...

and is similar to many other varieties of ''Zea mays''.Hannaway, David B., and Larson, Christina. Oregon State University
Corn (Zea mays L.)
. Retrieved 5 December 2013. More commonly grown to a height of , ''Zea mays'' typically grows with a single, hollow main stem often called a stalk (or culm) which exhibits internodes that are cylindrical in the upper part and alternately grooved in the lower part with a bud in the groove. One or occasionally two lateral branches emerge from the leaf axils in the upper part of the plant. The

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

of ''Zea mays'' alternate with broad, sword-shaped leaf blades, parallel veins with a prominent mid-rib, and small

ligule A ligule (from "strap", variant of ''lingula'', from ''lingua'' "tongue") is a thin outgrowth at the junction of leaf A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the plant stem, stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above g ...

s. The plant has an

adventitious Important structures in plant development are buds, shoots, roots, leaves, and flowers; plants produce these tissues and structures throughout their life from meristems located at the tips of organs, or between mature tissues. Thus, a living plant ...

, dense, fibrous root system that develops aerial roots at nodes near the soil surface. The flowers of ''Zea mays'' are

monoecious Monoecy (; adj. monoecious ) is a sexual system in seed plants where separate male and female cones or flowers are present on the same plant. It is a monomorphic sexual system comparable with gynomonoecy, andromonoecy and trimonoecy, and contras ...

and are born in separate parts of the plant. The female flower, or ear, is an

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

that develops from

axillary bud The axillary bud (or lateral bud) is an Plant embryogenesis, embryonic or Organogenesis#Plant organogenesis, organogenic Shoot (botany), shoot located in the axil of a leaf. Each bud has the potential to form shoots, and may be specialized in prod ...

apices several nodes below the stem apex. The male flower, or tassel, develops from the stem apex. Anthers on the tassel dehisce and release

pollen Pollen is a powdery substance produced by most types of flowers of seed plants for the purpose of sexual reproduction. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced Gametophyte#Heterospory, microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm ...

, which is dispersed by the wind (anemophilous). Ears consist of a

corncob A corncob, also called corn cob or cob of corn, is the hard core of an ear of maize, bearing the kernels, made up of the chaff, woody ring, and pith. Corncobs contain mainly cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. However, during several instance ...

, or

rachis In biology, a rachis (from the [], "backbone, spine") is a main axis or "shaft". In zoology and microbiology In vertebrates, ''rachis'' can refer to the series of articulated vertebrae, which encase the spinal cord. In this case the ''rachi ...

, with rows of sessile

spikelet A spikelet, in botany, describes the typical arrangement of the inflorescences of grasses, sedges and some other monocots. Each spikelet has one or more florets. The spikelets are further grouped into panicles or spikes. The part of the sp ...

s bearing kernels, or caryopses. The corncob and kernels are tightly enveloped by several layers of ear leaves commonly called

husk Husk (or hull) in botany is the outer shell or coating of a seed. In the United States, the term husk often refers to the leafy outer covering of an Ear (botany), ear of maize (corn) as it grows on the plant. Literally, a husk or hull includes t ...

s. The kernels vary from variety to variety, and what distinguishes ''Zea mays'' var. ''indentata'' from other varieties of ''Zea mays'' is the small indentation ("dent") that develops at the crown of each kernel. Comparatively,

has a harder-textured, more rounded kernel that may display a slight depression but not a distinct dent.

Cultivation

Dent corn is typically cultivated as a row crop grown commercially for grain and fodder. Cultivars developed for commercial cultivation are either single- or double-cross hybrids bred for special growing areas, soils, or climatic conditions.

Use

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS), there are two categories of dent corn hybrids—yellow and white. Yellow dent corn is produced primarily for animal feed and industrial uses such as ethanol and cooking oils.U.S. Department of Agriculture, Grain Inspection, Packers & Stockyards Administration
Commodity Image Gallery: Yellow Dent Corn
(2012). Retrieved 10 December 2013. FGIS identifies that "white food corn hybrids are dent corn... are typically contracted and sold to dry-mill processors and used in alkaline cooking processes for making masa, tortilla chips, snack foods, and grits" as well as producing food-grade starch and paper.U.S. Department of Agriculture, Grain Inspection, Packers & Stockyards Administration

(2012). Retrieved 10 December 2013. Dependent on their starch content, some yellow dent corn hybrids are grown and used in the production of food for human consumption.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q16955875 Maize varieties

Taxonomy

Description

Cultivation

Use

See also

References